


No Acting Required

by badboy_fangirl



Category: Real Person Fiction, Vampire Diaries RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 11:37:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10661793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badboy_fangirl/pseuds/badboy_fangirl
Summary: There's a fine line between reality and fantasy.





	No Acting Required

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Every story I wrote about NIan was written between December 2010 and January 2014. These are old and hold no bearing on how things actually were, are, or will be. I know Ian is married now, and I am not trying to be disrespectful. For all these years, I kept these stories locked on LiveJournal and protected, and it just occurred to me that these are just stories, and these are as much characters as any of the other fanfic I've ever written. It also represents a lot of my creative time and energy and I'm proud of these stories. So I'm posting them now, with the intent that others might enjoy them.

**_1x07 "Haunted"_**  
  
"Sexy, naughty nurse, I like it," Ian purrs in her ear as they're standing idly by waiting for a shot to be set-up.  
  
"Shut up, sexual harasser," she jokes, elbowing him in the ribs.   
  
(She is joking, but she wishes he just wouldn't. Because it's starting to mess with her head. His relentless flirting makes her want to punch him sometimes just like Elena is going to in a few moments.)  
  
They've been working together for a few months now, and he's easily become one of her closest friends. They spend a lot of time together, working, promoting, working some more, and hanging out, because even in their down time most of the cast liked spending it together. No one would believe they got on that famously, but it was true.  
  
The worst part for Nina is the uncontrollable crush she has on Ian Somerhalder. (Well, the worst part was he had a girlfriend. Because she kinda thinks she could have snagged him if he didn't.)  
  
There is something magical about  _The Vampire Diaries_. She's not a stranger to serialized television, but this feels different than her years on  _Degrassi_. It's like they constantly have these moments of truth in their performances—all of them—and she knows they're making a good show. It's not just a job, it's a job that could launch her career in a way she never imagined, but wildly hopes for.  
  
Another magical moment happens the next night when they're filming a scene on the Gilbert porch. Ian jumps up on the platform and walks towards her, having delivered Damon's line  _I'll do it_. She's standing there with tears in her eyes because Elena's heart is breaking for her little brother who just saw the girl he loves get staked. She's trembling because Elena is telling Damon what to put into Jeremy's head so he won't remember the bad stuff. But as she stares into Ian's eyes, as she absorbs and responds to all he gives in scenes even when the camera isn't on him, she thinks her bodily reaction has more to do with him than it does with Elena's drama.  
  
(She has a cathartic cry at home that night. Elena's had a rough week, and that spills over into Nina's life sometimes.)  
  
  
  
  
  
**_1x13 "Children of the Damned"_**  
  
The first time it happens, he has a good excuse. She's half naked on top of him, her hair spilling down over her shoulders and that Katherine-confidence radiating from her.  
  
God, she's a beautiful girl.  _So_  beautiful. Her thighs clench against his hips and he knows looking up at her with Damon's innocent wonder is probably the easiest performance he's ever given.  
  
She just laughs as she climbs off him after Marcos yells  _Cut! That's a wrap!_  Her eyes flash and she whispers, "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me, Somerhalder?"  
  
"Shut up," he grouses, rolling up on to his side, but not climbing immediately from the bed. "My girlfriend lives in New York."  
  
"And apparently you're  _hard_ -up," she laughs again, but then her face turns soft, almost wistful, as she stares down at him.  
  
"You know, for one so young, you're a bit dirty." He tilts his head and lifts one eyebrow suggestively.  
  
"For one so old, you're easily excitable," she shoots back, her quick wit slightly barbed.  
  
She turns on her heel and leaves the set. He stays in the bed for another minute or two, willing his body to calm down. He really shouldn't give her a hard time about how much younger she is than him; he knows it hurts her feelings. (The truth is it's more a reminder for himself than for her.)  
  
He's not really that easily excitable, and after three years with Meghan, it's a danger sign that his kid-sister co-star has suddenly become the source of his spank bank.  
  
  
  
  
  
**_1x16 "There Goes the Neighborhood"_**  
  
It's the third time they've had to shoot the  _[Kids walk in on Matt's mom making out with Damon]_  entrance and Nina is sick of it. Melinda Clarke is beautiful, and wonderful, and she really, really likes her. Except she doesn't like how friendly the woman is with Ian, and how they tend to stay in-character even during cuts, touching and talking, smiling and laughing in this way that suggests intimacy that they can't possibly have considering how short a time they've known each other.  
  
Candice gives her funny look, and she realizes her expression must be conveying her jealousy to an obvious degree. She smooths her features and shakes her head at her friend. Then Candice's hand touches her shoulder, squeezing gently, and she gives her a sympathetic smile.  
  
Later, they're getting food from Craft Services and the blonde says, "It didn't bother you when he used to make out with me."  
  
Nina looks around, but they are secluded enough for her to answer honestly. "I didn't care back then."  
  
"You shouldn't care now," Candice says softly.  
  
Nina slaps some salad on to her plate, as if it's the lettuce's fault. "I know," she replies.  
  
  
  
  
  
**_1x19 "Miss Mystic Falls"_**  
  
They shoot the dancing from so many angles that by the time it's his turn for close-ups, he's not really feeling it. Marcos generally staggers the order of things to get the best performance possible, but they're running out of daylight and they need that more for the wide shots. For the hand-held they can mess with the lighting in a way that no will know it's not natural, but Ian doesn't really care about it. He's supposed to convey a whole lot here without words, and he and Nina have discussed it quite a bit, but still.  
  
It's only the most important moment between Damon and Elena thus far and he doesn't want to mess it up.  
  
They walk down the steps and say their lines,  _What are we going to do?_  she whispers furtively.  _Right now, we just have to get through this_  he says firmly, giving a little nod of his head.   
  
Then Nina just looks at him, and her doe eyes are so full of— _something_ , and he has this out-of-body experience where a ripple goes through his chest, and he thinks maybe he's never been more Damon than he is in this moment. He stares into her eyes, and he imagines a future for them—for Damon and Elena—where all other things cease to interfere, where they are the only two in their orbit and all that matters is what they want.  
  
And what they want is each other. (Damon and Elena.  _Damon and Elena_.)  
  
His belly tightens, and he pulls her into his arms. They are still an appropriate width of space apart, but for the characters, they've never been closer.  
  
Her lips quiver just a tiny bit, a smile warring with  _something_ —and then it hits him, Elena wants Damon, and she's feeling it, just like he is, right this minute.  
  
(Nina wants Ian?)  
  
He lets her go, and they step back into their places, each of them hitting their marks perfectly. Marcos yells cut, and Ian resists the urge to reach down and adjust himself.   
  
He tries to tell himself it's just Damon, it's what his character is feeling, it's that crazy thing called love that's happening to a monster who has wasted his existence on a woman who didn't give a shit about him.  
  
But when he knocks on Nina's trailer door twenty minutes later, he's not thinking about Damon anymore. He's not thinking about anything but wanting to stop the ache, to know if it's just curiosity or something more, but she looks at him like he's got some nerve and she blocks her arm across the doorway when he tries to enter her little place of safety.  
  
"Nina..."  
  
"No," she says, like she can read his mind, and maybe she can. Maybe all the experience in the world hasn't made him any kind of actor at all.  
  
"I don't fuck my co-stars," she says bluntly and he can't help but blink stupidly, completely dumbfounded by her assumption.  
  
It's not so much an assumption as it is a point of fact, but part of him just wants to tell her she's got the wrong idea to save some face.  
  
Instead he says, "I'm going to New York this weekend."  
  
"If you're single when you get back, then let's have a conversation."  
  
Monday comes, and he's not, so they don't.  
  
  
  
  
  
**_1x21 "Isobel"_**  
  
Nina sees the dailies for Damon and Isobel's make out scene and finds herself wishing for Melinda Clark to come back. Because, in comparison? God, she doesn't even want to think about it. She knows Ian won't cheat on Meghan with her, but that might just be because she won't  _let_  him.  
  
(The sick thing is, if he's going to, she's jealous of whoever he might do it with, which is totally stupid. If she wanted him, she could have him, she knows that. But she doesn't want him for just a fling, and she refuses to be the piece on the side. Her parents raised her better than that, but, more importantly, she  _deserves_  better.)  
  
It works well for her scenes with Mia because Elena's supposed to feel this odd fascination that borders on repulsion, and ultimately be greatly disappointed in her birth mother. It's not hard to show those emotions at all. (Best method acting  _ever_.)  
  
Late Friday, they have to do a quick reshoot on the scene with Bonnie "despelling" the Gilbert device, and as they take their places, Ian gives her a smirk. Before she can even truly think it through, she says, "I'd guess a trip to New York is in order this weekend."  
  
He gives her a funny look as the Grip hangs the camera from an odd angle to get the shot the director wants. "What?" he asks, his voice low.  
  
"I saw the dailies for yours and Mia's scenes. Hot. I would guess she had the same affect on you that I do."  
  
His face tightens and he looks away from her. Paul comes into the room, a water bottle in his hand, and then he waves them over when it looks like the crew finally has everything set up. They hit their marks, Kat says her line, and then they're done. This episode is finally in the can, so they have a day off, which Nina needs very badly.  
  
As she leaves the Boarding House set, someone grabs her arm, and she's startled by the hard pressure on her elbow. "Ow, hey," she says, pulling against it and then she turns her head to find Ian looking down at her with his eyes blazing.  
  
"Maybe I've given you the impression that I'm just looking for a place to stick it, but that's not the case. I just want to be clear about that." His words are rushed but angry, and she feels a responding emotion swell within her.  
  
Surprised at his candor, and perhaps a little offended, she jerks her arm from his grasp, and because he isn't as strong as Damon or as controlling, he lets her go. "Whatever," she mutters because she can't have this conversation with him. They can't talk about what they've never talked about—what they never will talk about as long as he's in a relationship with another woman.  
  
"Nina," he says, and his tone keeps her from walking away without a backward glance. "It's you, there's something about  _you_. I'm not a guy on the prowl. But something is happening here that I can't control."  
  
She glares up at him. "You can control it just fine. All you have to do is stay away from me."  
  
That night when she gets home and starts crying, she doesn't pretend it's Elena's angst working itself out of her system. Instead she calls her mother and tells her she thinks she's in love with a man she can never be with.  
  
  
  
  
  
**_1x22 "Founder's Day"_**  
  
Usually they get their scripts and have a matter of hours before they have to start shooting scenes. For whatever reason, this time he gets his script on Friday night as he's going home, and because it's the finale episode, no matter how exhausted he is, he's got to read it as soon as he's gets home. (Plus, anything that will keep him from calling Nina, or just going over to her house so they can have the rest of that argument, or—fuck it, so they can do what the argument's about? Yeah, that's really what he's avoiding thinking about.)  
  
He reads Damon and "Elena's" last scene together five times before he throws the script across the living room.  
  
The stage direction reads  _[Damon kisses Elena's cheek, pulls back slowly. Hesitates. Then kisses her mouth. She kisses him back. His hands come up, gripping her face.]_  He knows because that's the part he read five times, not the dialogue, not the fact that it's not Elena at all, which you realize once she goes into the house.  
  
Because regardless of Elena or Katherine, it will be Ian kissing  _Nina_ , which is pretty much all he wants to do anymore, and he's never going to as  _not_  Damon if...if he keeps being a complete shithead.  
  
He phones Meghan and she calls him a choice name for breaking up with her for a third time over the phone. (Like it matters, they've been on and off for the last year really, more off than on, which is why he'd paid so much attention to the pull between him and Nina. And sometimes he's pretty positive it was over with Meghan the minute he met Nina Dobrev.)  
  
++  
  
Nina's grabbing an apple around 10:30am when Candice sidles up to her. They're both in their ridiculous period costumes and Nina assumes women in the 1860s must have been exhausted from the sheer weight of their clothes, not to mention a corset really makes it hard to breathe.  
  
"So, have you heard?" Candice asks.  
  
Nina takes a bite of her apple. "Heard what?"  
  
"Word on the street is that Ian broke up with Meghan."  
  
Nina almost chokes on her mouthful of apple, not just because that was the last item of information she expected to hear. She giggles and repeats Candice's terminology. " _Word on the street?_ "  
  
"He told Paul. Who told Kat. Who told me. Who told you."  
  
Nina looks around and sees Paul and Ian standing across the town square talking. "Is this the seventh grade?" she asks, swinging her gaze back to her friend.  
  
Candice smiles knowingly. "Something like that," she teases and she bounces away, leaving Nina standing alone with her snack food.  
  
The next time she looks over at him, he waggles his fingers at her. They haven't actually spoken to one another since they've been back on set, but it's not that Nina's angry with him. She's not; it's the situation that's the problem—she's horrendously attracted to, and possibly in love with, a man who is not available.  
  
Only, maybe he is? She's not sure if the reason she suddenly can't breathe properly has something to do with that or because her corset is just too tightly drawn.  
  
Either way, she's feeling a little faint when she and Paul climb on to a float a few minutes later.  
  
Paul grimaces at her as they get situated. "Heard it through the grapevine?" he asks.  
  
She nods.  
  
"Okay, good, because if you guys don't knock it off, this summer's gonna suck. So work it out, okay?"  
  
"Don't step on my dress," she says, looking down.  
  
"I'm not stepping on your dress, Nina," he says and his tone makes her eyes return to his face. She can't look away because he's giving her an intense empathetic  _I see into your soul_  expression that makes her own eyes burn with tears. "He's in as deep as you," is all he says.  
  
"Paul, Nina!" Marcos calls. "Face forward!"  
  
Nina moves so she's standing just in front of him and he wraps his arms around her. "How do you know I'm in deep?" she asks, resting back against him.  
  
"Because I have eyeballs."  
  
She starts laughing because Paul's dry sense of humor never fails to be funny, and that ruins the shot and Marcos gives them a stern _We're on a deadline!_  lecture.  
  
Elena's supposed to smile like a crazy person from the float, and Nina finds it no problem whatsoever.  
  
++  
  
"Should we talk about this scene?" Nina asks him. He's sitting on the grass outside the building they use for the Grill's outdoor shots, eating his lunch. They have an indoor scene coming up, and other than the table read, they haven't had any time to rehearse. (He thinks she was attempting to never speak to him again until he made sure she heard a certain piece of information.)  
  
"Sit," he says, pointing at the ground next to him. Since she's back in modern clothes, this shouldn't be a problem, but she gives him a look that lets him know he didn't ask nicely enough. " _Please_ , sit," he reiterates.  
  
She settles beside him and snags a potato chip off his plate. "I'm just playing it as it's written," he says, pretending to slap her hand away. "Normal Damon inflections. I mean, I have to do the eye-thing, since Elena mentions it, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I suppose."  
  
He pops the last bit of his sandwich into his mouth and watches her as he chews it. Then he smiles as her cheeks warm with color. "You look really beautiful," he says and he tugs on one of her curls. "Too bad you can't have your regular hair all the time."  
  
Her hand wraps around his before he can draw it away from her hair. "Is it true?" she asks.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why now?" she asks as her other hand comes up so she's holding his in both of hers.  
  
"I should have done it ages ago."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I've wanted to be with you since...for a long time."  
  
Her fingers move over his skin softly and she stares at him for a long, quiet moment. Finally she just says, "Me, too."  
  
He smiles, because he knows that, but it still makes him feel like The Man to hear her say it.  
  
++  
  
Two days later, they're shooting Damon and Elena's first kiss (stolen by Katherine) and they have to do it so many times, she's sure it's starting to lose its potency. Kissing is always awkward with forty people watching you, but especially when so much has to happen in the seconds before the kiss actually happens.  
  
(And she spent hours making out with this man the night before, but that's a whole other issue.)  
  
When Marcos gives them the thumbs up that he feels that they got everything they need, Ian grabs her and dips her, kissing her noisily for the whole crew. They get a big round of applause and he takes a bow before sweeping his arm towards her. "May I present the amazing Nina Dobrev," he says and that makes a few of the group cheer louder.  
  
She curtsies and smiles, feeling embarrassed all the while.  
  
++  
  
They make it to the night of the wrap party.  
  
That's eight days from Nina knowing he broke up with Meghan to the middle of his bed. If anyone bothered to ask Ian, he would have said,  _Too fucking long_ , but nobody asks him. He's actually looking right at her face in the moment the switch flips in her brain. (They're drinking Cosmos with Paul, Candice, and Matt when she puts her hand on his thigh, and he gets a hard-on with absolutely no encouragement, unless one could count nine months of torturous longing as encouragement.)  
  
They leave shortly after that, and he thanks God that his place isn't too far away.  
  
Once she's naked and spread out on his sheets, he tells her that her body is incredible, and then proceeds to touch every part of it as quickly as possible. He'd known going into this she would fascinate him, it's part of the reason he'd been in too many scenes where she got him hard and there had been absolutely no reward for it.  
  
But now? The reward seems so worth the wait because she's hot and greedy under his hands, and she doesn't hesitate in pushing him onto his back and having her way with him, which is probably the biggest turn-on ever.  
  
His hands cover her ass as he pulls her closer and she reaches between them, her fingers inciting riots all over his body, in his brain, in his chest, under his skin, but especially in his cock as her fist slides up and down in such a teasing way he feels like he's gonna lose his mind.  
  
Their eyes meet and she asks breathlessly, "Condom?" He almost panics until he remembers there are some in the bathroom in his medicine cabinet. She goes to get one when he tells her, and he admires her going as much as he does when she comes back. She's completely comfortable in her own skin and it shows as she climbs back onto his lap.  
  
She drops a stack of rubbers on the bed beside them and he starts laughing until she lifts an eyebrow in a come-hither challenge that makes him vow, "We'll use every last one of them."  
  
(They do.)  
  
  
  
  
  
**_2x01 "The Return"_**  
  
"Okay, so there's something I want you to do when we film this scene between Damon and Katherine," Nina says, landing on the sofa next to him with enough power to jostle him pretty good.  
  
"What's that?" he asks her as she throws her feet into his lap.  
  
"I want it to be hotter than Damon and Caroline, and Damon and Kelli,  _and_  Damon and  _Isobel_."  
  
He smirks at her, thinks they won't have to try very hard for that, but asks anyway, "How do you propose we accomplish that?"  
  
"Do whatever you think will get us censored. First rattle out of the box, we do it as hot as possible, and then dial it back if we need to."  
  
He likes this about Nina: she's very determined, ambitious, and willing to try anything if it will make the scene good. This is a little more personal, a little more about  _Nina and Ian_  than it is about the show, but he kind of likes that too.  
  
"Babe, you know that there is no acting required when I have to be hot for you, right?"  
  
She smiles. "I do know it. But let's make all of them think we're the best actors in the world. Deal?"  
  
She holds her hand out and he shakes it. "Deal."  
  
(She plans to rip his shirt open; he plans to lick her from collarbone to chin. And because they're on the CW, it doesn't bother anyone.)


End file.
